OK so my mare Ivy, has probably one of the worst attitudes of a horse i have ever seen.
well... maybe im being a little harsh, but imagine a moody teenager, that will snap at any crazy moment... WELL THATS MY BABY GIRL! :)
hahaha but jokes aside, she really does have an attitude problem! i have had her for almost 3 years, and have tried everything! from a smack on the ass (for all of you people against doing this, let me tell you, my horse smacks her self with her tail harder than we could smack her in the butt with our hand. so please keep your opinions) every time she acts up in the stall or while leading, to the gentlest coo telling her no when she does wrong.... AND NOTHING WORKS!

i of course have learned to love her and deal around it, because she is my horse and i love her no matter the attitude. but the other day it got wayyyy out of hand.

she odes this thing in the ring, where is you are wrking her, AND actually making her work vigorously, she will just stop. DEAD. mid canter, mid transition, mid WALK! she will simply stop and shake her head and throw a fit! you can get her back going with a swift kick, but she will continue to do it and it is extremely frustrating!

the other day though, we were gonna do circles our whole lesson, and let me just tell you she does not enjoy circles haha! (because of the amount of effort she is required to put in! ;) but anywho she was acting up reallyyy bad, like every time around she would stop and buck or rear! so finnaly i smacked her in the butt and gave her a strick no. (after of course many other attempts) she then reared up, for the 2nd time that lesson, and let me just say VERY high. then procceded to flip over onto her back! ALMOST on top of me!

of course i checked her, (she was fine, and so was i ) and got back on the ride here around again( she was perfect after that, knowing she had done something very bad)

but what i am trying to get at is that that was the last straw for me ya know>>?? WE NEED to get this under controll. when her attitude is pushing saftey limits that far, we have got a big problem!

any suggestions on where to begin??? tips on anyone with experiences like this??
please dont be rude:))

Rearing=most dangerous this a horse can do, IMO. I had a ruptured spleen from a horse rearing over on me, so it's not something to mess with. If you have ruled out all pain and I'll fitting tack, you really need to get some very firm discipline going. Buy a quirt. When that horse stops, stripe her ass, and don't do is easily. When she bucks, stripe her, and when she rears, pop her between the ears. And if she lest quit rearing after a few pops, get her to a trainer, it isn't a something worth getting hurt over..

Start back at breaking, theres so many issues. It honestly sounds more like a green horse. I'll say this, you're not firm enough with her. That's your biggest problem from what I get from your post. When she needs corrected with contact, mean it! You're not gonna hurt her. You can't just deal with bad habits. You know that's wrong, correct them. And rearing, thats just bad business. That needs to be dealt with severely, but you'll never fix it safely till you fix the underlying issues.Posted via Mobile Device

In my life so far I've never met a horse that was "just naughty." If this was my horse, I would take a few steps back and seriously evaluate everything about her, assuming that something is seriously wrong. And just because she has been this way for years doesn't mean there is nothing wrong with her. It just may not have been discovered yet.

This means everything from feed (too much hot energy?), to teeth, to making absolutely sure that her feet are perfect and not causing pain. I would evaluate her outlet for exercise (does she sit in a stall all day and only get out to ride?) Does all of her tack absolutely fit her well? Is your riding balanced and fair or are you asking her to do more than she is ready for? Are you drilling her over and over on things until her brain is ready to explode?

Does she have ulcers or back pain? Does she have painful heat cycles?

Some "bad" horses I've known in the past have been discovered to have: a pelvis out of alignment, polycystic ovaries, ulcers, painful ulcerations in the mouth, a saddle that was hitting the spine, a tooth abscess, arthritic hocks, nerve pain in the face, and the list goes on. Other "bad" horses were being asked to do things unfairly by riders that chucked them in the mouth and slammed down on their back with each stride.

Out of the saddle and back to the ground I would say. You have to have a firm foundation and it all starts from the ground and works its way up. My advice would be to get someone to help you who knows how to start a horse properly with ground work and manners. I think you will find the respect in the saddle that you have been missing.

I think that you need outside help at this point; a trainer. This kind of behavior is really dangerous and only a very experienced and brave person can be the one to put "a stripe" on her butt and ride through what she might dish out as a result. If you can't do it right (apply very firm discipline) then don't attmept it because it only builds the horse's idea of what it can do and get away with.

wanstrom (and everyone else who adressed this ) -thank you for your reply! and i left out what im about to say in my original post, because i am fairly new to this forum so i do not know how users would tend to react! but i am actually VERY strong with her, every time she does something wrong (in a bad attitude manner ) i will smack her , and hard (i left weight, so i can smack a good one haha). but last time i got to the point where i would actually take a whip to her butt when she was naughty ( just a simple stern smack ), the barn owner actually got on to me! saying i was not doing right, and she should be treated with a diffferent more gentle approach! he has been my trainer and friend for over 8 years, so i listened (with regret) and quit being harsh like i needed to. NOW i realize i have to start getting strict again, like you said her attitude is too bad a problem!

phly- thanks for your reply! and i agree i need to be stricter, but she is far from green, besides her attitude problem she is an amazing horse. she rides like a dream and we have won many shows, now i know that does not necessarily make a horse not green. but if i could go into all the details of her you would understand what im getting at about her haha:)

gottatrot- thanks for your reply! and oh yes, i have had her checked by a vet MANNYY times haha! she actually has an auto immune disease in her eye called uvietis, which is basically where one of your horses eyes is allergic to the sun, but it will only flare up when she goes under tremendos amounts of stress (i.e moving barns far away), other than those stressful times, her eye is completely normall! and before you say that is the reason for her attitude, she only got this disease a year ago, and we have had her for 3, and she has always had this sort of attitude problem you know?

I think that you need outside help at this point; a trainer. This kind of behavior is really dangerous and only a very experienced and brave person can be the one to put "a stripe" on her butt and ride through what she might dish out as a result. If you can't do it right (apply very firm discipline) then don't attmept it because it only builds the horse's idea of what it can do and get away with.

oh trust me girl, i have the guts haha:) i have striped her a many times, and rode out her violent rampage as a result and been ok! but after 2 or three times upon doing this, my trainer said (former trainer, HIS ways are wrong) that i shouldnt be so harsh. but then he himself wouldn't even get up on her and try. so its all down to the fact that i need to take up those methods again, because they worked! haha:)

wanstrom (and everyone else who adressed this ) -thank you for your reply! and i left out what im about to say in my original post, because i am fairly new to this forum so i do not know how users would tend to react! but i am actually VERY strong with her, every time she does something wrong (in a bad attitude manner ) i will smack her , and hard (i left weight, so i can smack a good one haha). but last time i got to the point where i would actually take a whip to her butt

If I'm reading this right, you are saying that normally you smack her with your hand, but then just the once you had a whip in your hand?

I apologise if I'm reading this wrong...

But if I have read correctly, then I'm just gobsmacked that you have got this far without the whip.

I routinely ride with a whip. If correction is needed (for example, if a petulant buck is given) then I will smack hard with the whip - once. The rest of the time I might use it to tap to reinforce a leg aid, or to scratch a neck. But if I want to correct some bad behaviour then my hands and feet just won't do the job that a good boot from the lead horse in the herd would.

Get up, get going, seize the day. Enjoy the sunshine, the rain, cloudy days, snowstorms, and thunder. Getting on your horse is always worth the effort.

If I'm reading this right, you are saying that normally you smack her with your hand, but then just the once you had a whip in your hand?

I apologise if I'm reading this wrong...

But if I have read correctly, then I'm just gobsmacked that you have got this far without the whip.

I routinely ride with a whip. If correction is needed (for example, if a petulant buck is given) then I will smack hard with the whip - once. The rest of the time I might use it to tap to reinforce a leg aid, or to scratch a neck. But if I want to correct some bad behaviour then my hands and feet just won't do the job that a good boot from the lead horse in the herd would.

hahah i think im confusing everyone a little bit! but to clear things up, no i have taken a whip to her many times, BUT the few times i had to do it around my former trainer (2or3 times), he tried to tell me "no you need to take a gentler approach, not just punishment when she is bad and whip/kicking her" so i had to stop with that!

ever since then i have just stuck to a good smack when needed, because of how he tried to reinforce me ya know?

but now that i am learning my way really was right (which she was actually improving then), i am deffinately going back to those tactics!

one thing i would like to say is though, she puts up a very bad bucking spree when you are on her and whip her, i can stay on, but depending on the amount of times she miss-behaves enough to get smacked, it might be very dangerous haha! do you reccomend hopping off, smacking her in the butt, hopping back on and working just as hard?

sorry if i sorta sound ignorant, but i am just wayy more educated ABOUT the horse and its health (equine veterinary science sorta thing), than i am actually riding training ya know? i never could afford some kind of "professional" (more than a simple lesson trainer) haha!

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